Massey, East Lead Pride Past Falcons 28-21
LEESBURG, VA - Monday night lights took center stage at Heritage High School with an important Dulles District contest featuring the Briar Woods Falcons and the Heritage Pride. Due to last Friday's weather, the game was moved to Monday and both teams had to wait out the weekend to get this game underway.
With the game anticipated to be a high scoring affair, the Pride got things started on the scoreboard first with a Kyle Nelson to Michael Massey touchdown pass. The extra point was no good and the score was 6-0 Pride.
After a solid defensive effort on the next drive, Heritage struck again with Nelson hitting Darius Tibbs on a touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone. The Pride faked the extra point and converted to make the score 14-0.
Briar Woods then answered with a Jeremy Gray touchdown catch from quarterback Alex Munro to make the score 14-7.
It was then that the Heritage defense took control of the game. Massey, who plays both ways, stripped Munro and then grabbed the fumble and raced 35 yards to score and the Pride took a 21-7 lead. Massey's score gave the Pride a ton of momentum and was a pivotal play in the game.
"Everybody did their job tonight and we all stepped up to get this win," Massey said. "Those two defensive turnovers helped us put up 14 points and win the game."
On the next series, teammate Russell East intercepted Alex Munro and took it to the house to increase the Heritage lead to 28-7 late in the second quarter. East was in perfect position when the Munro pass sailed high and the rest was history.
"I saw the lineman coming up field for the screen and I was trying to make the tackle, but when he overthrew it I was right there to make the interception," East said. "This was one of our best performances this season."
Feeling the pressure, Briar Woods put a drive together before the 1st half ended and scored on a Munro touchdown pass to Nico Darden. The half ended with Heritage leading 28-14.
In the second half, the Falcon defense stiffened and Briar Woods made it interesting when J.T. Bailey jumped over the goal line late in the 4th quarter to make the score 28-21. The Falcons had several more opportunities to tie the game, but the Pride stopped every attempt and came away with a great win to improve to 6-2.
Heritage head coach Wes Driskill saw his team win six games in a season for the second time in the past 3 years and was excited about how his team played against Briar Woods.
"Our defense really did a good job in helping us," Driskill said. "This was a huge win for us tonight because James Wood won, so we needed to win this game to stay in it. Our defense just did a terrific job."
The Pride will travel to Park View this Friday night for a huge Dulles District match-up that could decide whether or not Heritage makes the post-season for the first time in school history. Park View beat Dominion on Monday night to set the stage for the big match-up on Friday night.
Briar Woods fell to 5-3 with the loss, but the Falcons can still make the division 3 playoffs if they win the rest of their games.
